Forgiveness
by FuryOfTheBlackbird
Summary: One shot. It has been three years since Elsa accidentally reveals her powers to Anna, and locks herself in her room once more. Anna is crowned queen, as she is deemed no longer fit to rule, but it turns out more sinister things are happening in Arendelle's castle.


**Forgiveness**

Anna was standing in front of the door, the one door that had always been shut to her, wearing a crown that was never meant to be hers. Surely she must be happy to be the queen, they thought, and many years ago she would have been. Anna still remembered the days when she once dreamed of being queen. But it wasn't meant to be like this, never like this.

Elsa disappeared that day, three years ago, the sight of her becoming nothing but a memory in Anna's mind, a ghost that haunted her dreams and tortured her in her sleep. How could she have done this to Elsa, how could she have been so utterly _foolish? _She pushed Elsa to her breaking point, and why? So she could have her own petty retribution? Pathetic.

She raised a fist to knock, but she stopped, her fist hovering inches away from the door.

"Elsa?" Anna called. "It's me, Anna, your sister." There was no answer.

"Who am I kidding…?" She whispered, letting her fist fall to her side once more. "This is my fault. I did this to you." Tears stung Anna's eyes, but she did nothing to stop them. She buried her face in her hands, the pain of losing Elsa again overwhelming her. "I did this…" A hand slipped onto her shoulder from behind, the familiar warmth of it bringing her some comfort.

"You couldn't have known she'd end up like this." Hans said in a gentle voice.

"Don't make excuses for me, Hans." Anna brushed away his hand. "We both know I'm the reason why she's…" Anna paused, looking for the proper words to describe what had happened to her sister, but found none. The servants called it some kind of disorder, Hans called it unresponsiveness, but Anna didn't know quite what to call it. She just wanted the sister she knew back.

"You're too hard on yourself." Hans took her hands, and pulled her closer. "There was nothing you could have done to stop her from declining, Anna." Anna sniffed, and wiped away the remaining tears in her eyes. Hans removed a handkerchief from his coat pocket, and gently soaked up the tears that still clung to her freckled cheeks. He was the only happy thing she had left now, the only thing she had to hold on to in the past three years. Without him, she might have turned into a ghost herself. He always seemed to be able to comfort her somehow.

"I suppose not…" Anna said, though she wasn't quite sure. "I… I just need some rest for now. Thank you, Hans."

"I'm here if you need me, just remember that okay?" Hans said with a reassuring smile.

"Okay." She said, a weak smile appearing on her face. Anna's hands slipped out of his, and she turned to walk away. As soon as she rounded the corner though, she heard the clicking sound of a door being unlocked. Anna peeked around the corner, her curiosity getting the best of her. She watched Hans stuff a key into his pocket, but that couldn't be right, Elsa's door would have been locked from the inside, unless… As the door swung closed, Anna swiftly and silently caught it with her hand.

"Today was your sisters coronation." It was Hans' voice, but there was something different about it, something cold and cruel. Anna peered through the crack in the door. Hans was pacing back and forth near the end of a bed, where a figure only barely recognizable as her sister lay huddled in a mess of blankets. "Shame that you were in too poor a condition to attend. You couldn't pull it together, not even for her sake." A muffled whimper came from the pile of sheets where her sister lay. Hans stopped pacing, and leaned over the edge of the bed. "Speak up." He snapped. There was another muffled whimper. "I said, speak up!" Hans shouted, ripping away the bed sheets. Anna fought down a scream as she realized what had become of her sister. Elsa was skin and bones now, and her blond hair had grown wild. She was dressed in a ratty old nightdress, that may have been white if it had been washed in the past couple years. "Now, what were you going to say?" Elsa cringed at the sharpness of his voice.

"I c-couldn't, I-I couldn't let her s-see me like this." She stammered, her voice nothing but a croak.

"You're pathetic." Hans spat. "It's no wonder you're sister has already forgotten about you."

"S-She wouldn't."

"You took too long, Elsa, not even your sister can hold onto hope for so long." Hans resumed his pacing. "And now that we're married, there's nothing stopping me from killing Anna, and taking the throne." The voice in Anna's head nagged her to leave, to run and get the guards, but her feet had long ceased to function. She could only watch in horror from the crack in the door.

"N-no!" Elsa begged, the bed sheets beneath her hardening into ice as it froze beneath her. "No, d-don't hurt her please!" Elsa scrambled forward, tumbling head first onto the ground in her frenzy. She lay on the ground rolling in pain. Hans kneeled down, placing a gloved finger just below Elsa's chin, and tilting her head towards him.

"Oh it's not her you should be worried about." He said dangerously. "Of course, there's just one loose end I need to tie up before I kill your sister. After all, I can't have you taking the throne in this state, now can I?"

"No!" The cry escaped Anna's lips before she could stop herself. Her feet gained function again, and she stumbled forward into the room.

"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise." Hans stood up again, a smile spreading across his face. "I get to kill two birds with one stone."

"Hans, why?" Anna whispered, tears of betrayal streaming down her face.

"Oh, Anna. As thirteenth in line in my own kingdom, I didn't stand a chance. I knew I'd have to marry into the throne somewhere." Hans advanced on her like a fox about to pounce on its prey. "As heir, Elsa was preferable of course, but you, you were so desperate for love, you were willing to marry me-" Hans snapped his fingers. "-just like that!" Anna was backed against the wall now, Hans standing just a foot away from her. He was so close she could smell his nasty cologne. "I'm sorry Anna, I just wanted the throne. No hard feelings." He said, wrapping his hands around her neck.

"Hans…" She gasped, as his hands clamped down on her neck, her face wet with tears once more. Her wide blue eyes starred into his, heartbreak and betrayal stirring in them. How did it come to this? How could she have let him get this far?

"I said, don't hurt her!" Elsa screamed. Hans let go in surprise, giving Anna just enough time to slip away.

"Damn!" He yelled, leaping for Anna as she made her escape, but he missed. Anna was too fast. Elsa's hands glowed white, her blue eyes wild, and burning with the rage of a thousand winter storms. Her hair whipped around in the swirling blizzard that formed around her.

"I said, don't hurt her." Elsa repeated through bared teeth. Hans tried to run, but his feet were frozen to the floor. Ice crept quickly up his body. The prince panicked as it spread towards his arms, encasing his body as it went. He stretched his neck away from it, in a vain attempt to keep himself alive, but before long, the ice had consumed him fully, and he stood there, statue like and silent. Frozen in a state of panic.

The storm vanished, and Elsa collapsed to her knees. "I killed him." She whispered vaguely. "He won't wake up anymore." A little smile crept upon her lips as she looked upon the frozen prince. She looked as though she were a little kid, admiring the science project she had just created, but then she looked at Anna who stood starring at her, eyes wide with shock, and suddenly it seemed as though the reality of the situation was bearing down on her. "Anna…" She spoke again, but this time in fear. "I-I just killed him…" Elsa looked down at her hands, which shook violently now. She felt Anna's arms around her, although how Anna could forgive a monster like her, Elsa would never know. If Anna were so ready to forgive her, then maybe one day she'd be able to forgive herself.


End file.
